Laughing Hatred
by TheBattyWhiteCrow
Summary: It's been three and a half years since Sarah returned victoriously from the Labyrinth. Toby has since gained a younger sister, Crystal, but when he invokes the words to summon the Goblin King, he must learn what it is to be an older brother before it's too late. Sarah must rebeat the impossible Labyrinth before the thirteen hour in the company of Toby, before she loses them both.
1. Prologue - The World Changes

A/N - Not every chapter will be this short, they will likely be about twice this length. This is simply the prologue :) Review, fav, follow, shoot me your opinions :)

It had been some deal of time since the events of The Labyrinth, and in fact, the events had long since drifted into the back of the memory of all who held the ability to recall such a tale. Over three years had passed, and a fair deal had transpired, in the slow, yet creeping manner in which life so often held itself.

As it had turned out, the purpose of the date all those years ago that had started the whole mess had been on the subject of a certain fastly growing biological bump. In truth, Sarah supposed she should have suspected such, after all, her stepmother had grown quite accustomed to raiding the refrigerator for pickles, as random as that had been. And indeed, such pregnancy had been responsible for the quick increase of the date nights, escalating them from rarely occurring, to obnoxiously appearing on the tail end of every single weekend.

Thus, Crystal had been born barely nine months after Sarah had run the Labyrinth and escaped triumphantly alive, brother in hand. Crystal was a handful in a bustling, sweet way, a rather bright blonde little girl with bare feet and a fluffy pink dress decadent in flowers of every nature. She was quite adventurous, not taking no for an answer, and charming in every manner a two and a half year old could be.

She was also the bane of Toby's existence.

Toby was a sweet boy, but a rambunctious one, only being egged on by his mother in his loud nature. His jealousy of his younger sister was plain for all to see, resulting in stomped toes, cut hair, and ruined dresses. All of which, he explained away with a childishly wide sort of grin, and stealing the hand of his mother, who happily apologized and repaired his damage.

He idealized his older sister, Sarah, who had recently turned the age of eighteen, much to the surprise of the adults about her. Regardless, she remained as childish as ever in the eyes of the 'adults', despite her supposed coming of age. Truly, she didn't feel much different, her room soon became cluttered with scripts and novels in which she played varying roles in. Often, the novels would lie open upon her bed, with both her and Toby curled up in the blankets, him listening contently to her tales.

She could after all, pick all of the best ones, and such activities made the boy feel closer to his older sibling through an unspoken bond.

No one could understand why Sarah could calm the rambunctious boy when everyone else couldn't, including his own mother, much to Sarah's silent smugness. Often times, when the day had tensely calm and Irene had been caught up with Crystal the whole day, Toby could be found asleep in Sarah's sheets, words still being read aloud despite the soft snoring.

His thirst for the novels, however, was insatiable.

That was the start of the trouble.

Sarah attended the nearby high school, and as such, could not defend the peace of her room at all regards. In truth, the toys and novels meant so little to her, nothing but weight and clutter in the end, really, but there was one book in which she desired the boy to have no part in.

Labyrinth.

She'd long since given up on destroying the book, it simply appeared once more, in a rather discerning manner, mind you, back in the drawer it had once been placed. Hiding places proved ineffective, as it merely plonked itself back to the drawer, determinedly lying atop of the exam study papers, clear for any eye to see the red leather work and golden lettering.

As much as she despised admitting defeat, Sarah couldn't argue with facts, and the fact was, she couldn't destroy the novel. Instead, she took a black piece of wire, and twisted the knob of the drawer shut in a basic, locked fashion, and informed the household that her exam papers were within, and she'd really rather not have crayon all over them.

Sarah's stepmother, Irene, had not stopped her intruding ways over the three years that had transpired. Rather, when she couldn't get Toby to remain calm for any certain length of time, she would retrieve a random novel from Sarah's room to soothe the child. As time passed, this came to be a habit, but rather than a wide array of different books being read, only one was read, appreciated, and replaced in it's supposedly secure hiding place.

The book, Labyrinth, was Toby's favorite, and very soon, he desired to hear no other tale. It was a dark enough story, with a woman that lost her brother to the Goblin King of the Labyrinth, unable to retrieve him before the clock struck the thirteenth hour. In time, Irene declined to read such a tale, unsure of its affect on such a new mind, instead directing a rather sulking Toby to brighter, fairer fairy tales.

But not, of course, before he'd memorized nearly every line.


	2. The Mismatched Shoes

Strands of delicate strings of dragged lead upon paper knitted together, wrapping around themselves into the stretching shape of the spread wings of an owl in flight. The lines tangled amongst themselves artistically, leaving detailed tendrils in their path, winding their way masterfully up and down the form of the creature. The owl had a malicious sort of glint in its black eyes, claws outstretched and wings thrown behind it, stretching across the lines of the paper once intended for lesson notes.

Sarah sighed contently, shifting her hold on the pencil in hand to softly drag it across the paper, leaving trails of shading in its wider wake. Her arm rested upon the desk in a rather bored manner, her left hand's fingers curled beneath an uninterested chin. Her eyes were nearly as if in a dream's trance, her fingers lead the pencil in it's path across the page as if they had a mind of their own.

"Sarah." A voice sounded ahead of her, barely directing her attention upwards, her hand only briefly stilling in its action as she distractedly pulled her eyes upwards, "Hmm?"

"Sarah Williams!"

"Present!" Sarah tore her gaze away from the drawing, raising her hand for attendance, the pencil clattering to the ground. Unfortunately, however, as the laughing of her classmates sounded in her quickly growing red ears, she SUPPOSED she was to answer some question pertaining to the mathematics on the board.

Lovely.

It was going to be one of THOSE days.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Perched on the window sill of the classroom, a softly brown owl inclined its head greedily to the paper at the desk just on the other end of the pane of glass. It was a flattering enough image, Jareth supposed, though he most certainly could not be captured COMPLETELY on a single page of paper.

But, well, she could TRY.

A crumpled up sheet of paper snapped through the air, bouncing off the back of Sarah's head, much to her tired annoyance. The moment the teacher turned her back to the class, as she often did, the neglectful woman, Sarah leaned down out of her desk, picking up the crumpled paper. Sitting up, she opened the paper, and gave a bored look at the contents, scrawling something onto the sheet before recrumpling it in a foul temper.

Waiting once more for the teacher to turn her back to draw something non important upon the board, Sarah turned back to the rear end of the classroom, noting the snickering form of one of the supposedly 'cool' children, a boy, no less, not even deserving the right to be a man. He was such an awkward thing, with a sad start at a beard, acne, and baggy clothing, apparently the culprit of the annoyance.

And very soon after the owl noted such traits, the thing came to have a crumpled sheet of paper in his hair.

His friends erupted into outrageous laughter, bringing the instructor to whirl around as if someone had just lit the place on fire. Hawk like eyes resting on the body of Sarah, still twisted to have her attention in the rear of the class.

"Sarah, are you TRYING to be sent to detention?" She snapped furiously, the harpy.

"Are you offering?" Sarah answered back as if resigned to something that was to happen whether she begged or not.

"Not anymore, office. Now." The instructor demanded, pointing a boney finger to the doorway furiously. Rising, Sarah seemed resigned enough to her fate, striding over to the door, face red at the still spreading laughter and mocking tones at her back. The instructor turned to her class, voice sickly apologetic, "Some students are simply disruptive, and there's nothing you can do about it, James, I'm sure-"

"Oh come on, you're the strictest teacher here!" Sarah whirled around, her long brunette hair falling about herself in her fury, "Really, someone sneezes and you practically toss them out the window! If you MUST know, though you didn't even ask, I didn't throw the note in the first place. But since your concern is so touching," She added sarcastically, voice dripping with mockery, "let's see what it said, shall we?" Sarah strode over to the desk of James, an air of powerful fury about her, someone simply pushed to the edge one to many times, "After all, it can't be TOO bad, can it? Since it's your prized, JAMES we're talking about." She encouraged with a bitter and slightly malicious sort of grin.

Oh yes, Jareth thought sarcastically, Sarah didn't throw temper tantrums any more.. Not in the slightest. The only thing that would make the scene more childish, would be if she gave the ground a little stomp on her way out the door.

"Let's see here, 'What the hell, Sarah,'" She read aloud, looking up from the page in her hand shortly to the class, adding quipply, "Mm.. We're off to a great start here. He even spelt my name wrong. It's S-A-R-A-H. Not S-E-A-R-A, genius." She looked over the paper, glaring at the boy who'd thrown the note. He, for the most part, tried to put on the air of someone that was too cool for the entire situation, but his features were burning as the laughter of the class reached a peak at his expense, "'I just sat in some feathers on your seat.' Because, apparently I molt, and you can teleport, be in two places at once, AND be invisible. Frankly, if you can do all that, I question why you're in school, just go and be superman or something. 'CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF.' All caps there, really wanted to get the message across, OR, he forgot the english language." She gave a long, thoughtful pause before continuing, her bitter tone snapping through the air like a whip, "Could be either."

"O-Office, Sarah!" The instructor bellowed over the laughter of the children. "How shocking!" Sarah exclaimed temperedly, stepping out of the room and slamming the door behind her.

What a stubborn child, Jareth speculated shortly, turning his attention to the abandoned image lying atop of her desk.

OoOoOoOoOo

Sarah heaved a sigh, leaning her back against the hallway's corner softly. She hadn't meant to lose her temper, but oh.. She found it harder and harder to put up with the sort of abusive shit that her classmates attempted to put her through after having defeated The Goblin King. After all, why should she have to put up with offensive, poorly written notes, when she had thrown the heads of the fieries? When she had escaped the Bog of Stench? Led a seige through the Goblin City..

Even if that WAS a fair amount of time ago.

"Well, come on," Sarah muttered aloud to herself, "There's no use regretting it now." Crumpling the page further in her shaking palm, Sarah tossed the crinkling paper into one of the many periodically placed garbage cans that lined the halls. Crackling softly, the paper opened up further in the dark of the garbage, revealing a red tipped pen's scrawlings in the bottom right side quite legibly.

'You wouldn't last two minutes in The Oubliette.'

Sarah passed the detention office, not even giving it a sideways glance. To be honest, her teacher was well known for her open manner for detention appointments, and hardly ever checked up to be certain the time was actually, in itself, served.

Besides, Sarah mused, looking to the hanging clock hanging upon the mantle of the stairways to the ground floor. It was nearly time for the school to be let out, and she did have a promise to keep to Crystal and Toby.

They were young enough that the idea of someone not keeping their word was practically a sin, punishable only by the burning of one at the stake. But not quite young enough to forget the promise after a few hours. Still, Sarah pondered, skipping a fair amount of the stairs on her way down, she did enjoy time with her siblings.

Crystal had just reached the age in which bubbles were a constant wonder, a touch of magic upon the world, she could be found fawning and chasing after a few of the oily circles. While Toby found himself at the age in which EVERYTHING was to be climbed, and really, she simply HAD to be nearby to catch the little adventurer!

The world, Sarah pondered, was a boring thing, particularly when one thought on the subject for any length of time. Indeed, everyone was content to be discontent, waking each morning to complete a task that encompasses all of the day, in order to earn a currency that was, quite literally, not worth the time spent upon it when in regards to the prices that seemed to spike the moment anyone saved anything. Yes, Sarah thought to herself, lifting her backpack from her locker, something was very, very wrong with the world.

The release bell rang through the air in a thought searing, mind numbing tone, just as Sarah closed the locker, spinning the dial to any random digit.

At least the Labyrinth had openly admitted that it was defective.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"I'm home!" Sarah called out, closing the door behind her with her left boot. Merlin, a rather shaggy looking, older dog of a breed she wasn't quite certain, trumped down the hall, tongue lolling out of the corner of his mouth. Adorning his tangled, long fur, were quite the collection of pink bows, spilled glitter, and, of course, the liquid of many slaughtered bubbles.

"Played pretty princess again, did you, Merlin?" Sarah laughed shortly, resting the backpack at her feet as she crouched in the doorway, affectionately scratching behind the dog's ears. Happily, his tail threatened to move fast enough to get him some air time, and agreeably, he threw his head back in a pleased bark.

"You know that means you'll need a bath now, don't you?" Sarah pointed out, to which the dog's head dunked to the ground, tail between his legs. He made to remove his head from her hands, and slink down the hall in an attempt of escape. Laughing, Sarah rose, "Go on now, run! I can't see you slinking down the hall, I promise."

Merlin practically crawled down the hall, promptly ignoring her as he turned a corner down the far end, slinking in every sense of the word. Leaping over the dog, a rather pink blur came bounding down the hall, leaping into the air at Sarah. Grinning wide, Sarah widened her stance slightly, catching the laughing girl in both hands, carefully holding her above the ground. "You ready to go, Crystal?"

"For hours!" Crystal bounced in the air, her straight blonde hair falling in silken strands at the height of her chin, drifting in and out of her features. She was rather small, and even lighter at that! Her pink dress was adorn in the patterns of countless flowers that spilled over one another in a rippling movement as she moved about on her adventures.

"For hours you say?" Sarah mocked shock, opening her mouth slightly in a joking jaw dropping moment, "Where are your shoes?"

"Oh." Crystal speculated, looking down at her bare feet, her blonde hair falling into her blue eyes, tightly clasped in her hand was a brightly blue yarn necklace, with three differently shaped glass bubbles strung through it. Held tightly in the other was a pink container for the creation of bubbles, the concoction spilling over the sides in a sloshing manner at her wild natures.

"Oh? That's all you've got to say?" Sarah teased, a warm sort of smile upon her features, "Come on then, let's get your shoes on and get your brother, we can't go to the park without either." Setting Crystal back in her feet, Sarah lifted one of the white little slippers from the box of shoes by the door, slipping it onto her tiny little feet.

Oh, she could remember all the times they walked to the park previously, when the little girl would stand tiptoe, take the hand of her older sister and lace her fingers into hers.

Such small, tiny little things, her fingers..

"Toby! Are you ready to go?" Sarah asked absently as she lifted the second slipper from the box, the silence stretching.

Heart pound.

"Toby?"

Her heart beat faster in the silence, slamming against her ribcage and bringing adrenaline down her muscles, despite herself. "Toby?!" She dropped the slipper, and practically sprinted up the stairs, taking them at least three at a time.

Toby opened the door to his and Crystal's room, peering out of the open door with a cranky, 'I just woke up' look about him. With ruffled short blonde hair and green eyes, his clothing was a bit wrinkled upon him, a grey T shirt and baggy jeans. Sarah breathed out, relief washing over her.

Oh, that feeling never went away.

"Come on, we're going to the park, while Irene's out and dad's at work, remember?" Sarah covered her relief with a smile, feeling as though she could breathe once more, "You've got to put your shoes on and grab a coat!"

"I'm not going." He stated sulkily.

"Sure you are, have a little faith in your older sister." Sarah joked, "Hey," Sarah smiled at him openly, crouching down to his level, "How about I bring a new novel I just got from the library? It's a good one, I can tell. We can read it at the park, it'll be fun, I promise. You know how I always-"

"Keep your promises." A grin placed itself on his features, seeming for all the world that it properly always belonged there.

"That's right, now go get your shoes on." Sarah pat him on the shoulder, rising as he walked past her in the manner in which all little children did. Toby stood by the shoe box beside his half shoed sister, fishing through the mismatched pairs for his own sneakers, still half awake and cranky in the company that he didn't particularly desire.

"Yours." Crystal held out the blue yarn necklace, a wide sort of bubbly smile across her features. "I don't want it." Toby snapped back, bringing the expression of heartbreak on the girl's features. Lip quivering, Crystal stood, and under the impression that he simply had to try it ON to appreciate it, dropped it over his head as he slipped on both of his shoes.

Furious, Toby snatched it from around his neck and threw it to the ground at her feet, eyes snapping. "Stop it!"

Crystal bent down, as hard as that was for small children, lifting the necklace from the ground with exaggerated gentleness. "Yours." She stated once more, holding out the gift to her older brother.

"I don't want it!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Both of you, stop it right this minute. We all know you can go for hours." Sarah called out from her room, lifting the new novel, 'The Oath' her backpack. Slipping one foot out of her uncomfortable shoes, she replaced it with a softer, nicer sneaker of a grey color. Leaning down, she moved to replicate this action with the other uncomfortable foot, when stringing through the hall, she heard those damnable words.

"I wish-" Well, Sarah thought to herself, those were innocent enough, still, they held a malice in the tone that struck her upside the head as if she had been punched. "The goblins really WOULD-" "TOBY, STOP!" Sarah stumbled over her own feet, sprinting down the hall in a dire manner, tripping over a rather offended Merlin in the mean time.

"-Take you away. Right now." Toby muttered to himself in a sulky manner, just as Sarah burst into the room.

The sun disappeared behind a cloud, the wind howling at the windows, rattling the house to the core.

-Reviews-

Guest - Thanks so much! I was really worried that no one would be interested just from the prologue itself :) Thanks for taking the time!


	3. Hello Sarah

Reasonable sanity was left at the doorway, Sarah thought to herself as her panicked eyes drank in the once rather predictable room. Yes, once, it was complete with predictable portions of furniture and carpeting, all with logic and reasoning standing behind the bright, and perhaps, slightly tacky coloring.

This was no longer the case.

Rather, the once perfectly reasonable, sane, and predictable world that had once firmly rested itself upon the boards of reality and rational thinking, was shattered in a display of madness and whims. Beneath Sarah's mismatched shoes rested a clear glass pane that was suspended by an invisable, enveloping force. The once stable world Sarah had long since grown reaccustomed to lay shattered and splintered, shards of a flat display twirled and twisted through the wide, black space.

Light illuminated the shifting space, though it seemed to hold no discernable source. Twitching, wildly unrational glints and gleams decorated the shards of reality in their movements, seemingly holding no interest in a sound discernation of which direction the light emanated from.

"Hello, Sarah." A voice Sarah had long since grown accustomed to hearing only in a distance memory filled the oddly spaced plane. The man stood as tall as he'd ever been, with his jaw tilted proudly to stare down at those before him with a condescending smile. Locating something that peaked his interest, Jareth's smile spread across his features at the sight. "And hello Young Jareth!" He proclaimed brightly, grinning warmly at the blonde child at the age of four before him.

Sarah rested a hand on Toby's shoulder, shifting her brother behind her back in a firm, protective movement. "That's not his name." Sarah informed shortly, a heated glare finding itself across her matured features.

Jareth's smile dropped with disdain as he regarded the changed woman before him with studying eyes, "What a world you chose, Sarah." He spat, rounding the two figures standing before him with ringing footsteps that sang through the murkied world. "Filled with only the most drull tasks, and the endless, meaningless responsibilities that precede them." He continued as he regarded the two before him, irritation noticeably rising within his features as Sarah turned as he did, her eyes narrowed in hostility.

"Responsibilites are a part of growing up." Sarah retorted, resting an open palm on Toby's shoulder as she wearily observed Jareth before her, "Of being part of a family."

"And yet," He threw back dangerously, speaking quickly with a shorter temper, "I offered you nothing less than the very same. To be MY family." He stopped where he stood, the expression of a betrayed child dancing across his features, "As I seem to recall, you threw my offer in my face." He spat, nodding his head sarcastically as he flourished his arms in a theatric, shrugging gesture, "Why should you, the one who denied one family, have any family of your own? You, are far too picky."

"Toby didn't mean it." Sarah expressed upon a new topic, much to Jareth's disinterest. He always did have the perfect return for every comment she had. Though, Sarah had dreamt more than once that in the three years since their encounter, she had earned the skill to hold her own within a conversation with the Goblin King. Delusions, all of them, it seemed. "Return Crystal, please, Toby's just a child!"

"What's said is said.." Jareth shook his head, returning to walking along the glass plane with bored ease, well-rehearsed words falling from his lips.

"Everyone says things they don't mean!" Sarah's voiced burst out, simple words that she had meant to say all those three years ago when such a line had been cast upon herself.

"Oh?" Jareth stopped in interest, a conniving grin crossing his features as he disdainfully regarded Sarah, "You think he didn't MEAN it?" He exclaimed, cackling with laughter to the very prospect.

Then, as quickly as the laughter had been summoned, it dispersed, replaced with a menacing smile, "Well, let's correct that misconception, shall we, dear Sarah?" He spat the endearment sarcastically, the man seeming to be a colder, more dangerous sight than Sarah recalled him being three years past.

"I don't mean it now.." Toby pipped up, peering past the protective arm of his older sister, regarding the blonde king before him, shaking softly with fear. "I-I really don't.."

"Well, it doesn't really matter WHEN you meant it. It was said. It was meant. What's done is done." Jareth leaned back with a plotting smile crossing his features as he regarded the two sanity dwellers before him, "But, as gracious as I am, you can have her back." Jareth concluded with a warm smile.

"I can?! I-" Toby bristled with excitement, beaming joyfully at the very idea, bouncing upon his ecstatic heels happily.

"IF," Jareth threw in trivially, "if, you beat my labyrinth." He explained further, a wicked grin twisting his lips, "Your sister lies within my castle at the heart of my Labyrinth. You have thirteen hours, Young Jareth. If you can beat my labyrinth in that time, you will be returned to your home with your sister. The minute after thirteen hours, however, your sister becomes one of my goblins. Forever. And you remain within my Labyrinth for eternity." As if a sudden thought struck him, Jareth threw a hand towards Sarah in dismissal, eying Toby with a serious air, "Sarah can accompany you, if the both of you choose. But YOU alone must enter my castle to find this.. Crystal.." He tried the foreign name on his tongue with a distasteful look to how challenging it was to mention.

"He's only four! Take him home, and I'll beat your labyrinth." Sarah decided firmly,

"Those are my terms, Dear Sarah. If you do not LIKE them, feel free to DENY them. And Crystal will be mine."

"Doesn't look like we have much of a choice, then."

"On the contrary, my dear Sarah. The choice," Jareth smirked sharply with a wild dangerous air lifting around him, "Is entirely up to the both of you."

And, here came the mind games.

She could recall how maddening those were.

And how impossible it was to win against them.

A/N - So, I wandered away from this project for a bit, I wanted to make sure that my writing skills were up to par, because I was getting some mentions on my writing deterring the story itself. So, now I'm back. And I'm SHOCKED at the interest that's STILL with this! I mean, this thing was done in what.. April? April, May, June, July, August, September, October - So yeah. Long time. And I'm still getting follows, favorites and REVIEWS for this. So you know what? I WAS going to stay away for a longer time, but you guys seem to REALLY want this.

LiliDreamer89 - Thank you so much for taking the time to review! Behold, the next chapter! Just, ahem, a few months late XD

TheyCallMeChipper(Chapter1) - Thank you very much, back then I wanted to go for a certain feel, I was practicing a certain type of writing called 'Descriptive while actioning' it's kinda like where you define someone's appearance as they're doing something. Makes it more interesting than if they were stationary. I'm glad you noticed XD I dialed it down, I think, in this new chapter.

They CallMeChipper(Chapter2) - Nope! The OoOoOoOo's are non negotionable. I don't do that, anyway, where there's this odd noise in the middle of a story, without quotation marks or reason. These mark the passage of time, most people that use these line breakers personalize the design for themselves, like, I've seen one that was like this -.-.-.-.-.-. and another that was like this zxzxzxzxzxzxzx Personally, I like mine ^-^ Thanks SO much for leaving those reviews, though! I hope to hear more from you!

Kieira - When you wish upon a star~~ No seriously though, your review made me decide to write this chapter just so I could burst into Disney song in response. Sooo.. WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR~


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